Bodybuilding Supplement Reviews

Day three and it's starting to kick in! I take 2 scoops, 25mg ephedrine and 325mg asprin with it but the BA tingles are insane! The energy is very clean and not jittery like the rest. USP labs finally got it right... I tried their Anabolic Pump and POWERfull and didn't get much from that stuff. So far I give Jack3d an 8/10. The taste is strong but good and it mixes fine. It kicks in around the 30-45 minute mark but the BA tingles kick in fast.

I have to give this product a thumbs up. Sometimes I have problems falling asleep; I just lay in bed but cannot fall asleep. I have tried many other sleep aids with limited success. Some even give me that hangover feeling in the morning. I tried 2 caps of ALRI Lean Dreams before bed last night, and I started to feel it within an hour. I had no problems falling asleep once I got into bed! This is a great product if it continues to work this well. Oh yeah, and the caps… they smell like candy!

Taste: 9/10 - My first tub of CytoGainer was the Chocolate Mint flavor. I loved the taste of it. It tasted like a mint chocolate chip ice cream milkshake when it was mixed with milk. I began to get tired of the taste towards the end of the tub. This time I got Chocolate Malt. Although a little sweet -- it tastes excellent!

Mixability: 4/10 – Mixability was very bad. Seriously, I am getting very annoyed with it. This could be solved by using a blender, but then you have to wait for it to settle because it gets all bubbly. Shaking it does not work well, either.

Overall: 8/10 - All together I like this product. It is a pretty good weight gainer. It helped me maintain my weight after losing weight due to the flu.

I have numerous bodybuilding.com shakers and they all leak. There are a lot of other people that complain about them leaking. You can get them for free with an order of $75+. You're able to choose your free gift, so you might want to opt for something else. I highly recommend the F.I.T. Mobile Mixer. I wouldn't choose the shaker bottle unless you need one. If you already have one of their shakers, or if you decide to chance it, there is one thing that you can do to help with the leaking. Pop the cap off a few times while you are shaking your drink. This seems to let any excess pressure out. Do the same thing if you're letting your drink sit around for a while. This remedy seems to work well.

Here’s a quickie on the Banana Cream flavor of Ergopharm Mass Meal. Ergopharm Mass Meal is a weight gainer that is formulated to maximize lean musce mass growth and minimize body fat gain.

Taste: 10/10 - When I was opening the container, I smelled something similar to banana nut bread. I love banana nut bread and banana nut muffins! I used my finger to get a sample taste and it tasted pretty good. I think that Mass Meal tasted a lot better than Muscle Milk, and Muscle Milk is some pretty good stuff. It’s not as sweet as Muscle Milk though. Needless to say, I’ll be adding it to my favorites list.

Mixability: 9.5/10 - I used a spoon to stir it up, and it didn’t too long. Maybe 15-20 seconds… with a spoon!

Cost: 8/10 – Around $25 for 2.6lbs. It’s priced just about the same as Muscle Milk. You’re paying for quality and taste, which in my opinion is worth it.

Just a heads up on the taste. First off, Dymatize Elite Whey is a pretty good quality protein at a good value ($25 for 5lbs.). Cross green apple off your list of flavors to try. It sucks. It doesn’t even really taste like green apple. It’s very sweet, but that’s it. I thought that I was drinking sweetened unflavored whey. Their other flavors are very strong, so I thought that green apple would be the same. I was highly disappointed. Don’t get me wrong though, Dymatize Elite Whey is good stuff. If you haven’t tried the café mocha flavor yet, you need to.

I've always been a fan of NO-Xplode. I'll get a NO-Xplode review up here shortly. I just tried the Lemon Lime flavor though, and I had to post a comment on it. The Lemon Lime flavor is terrible compared to Orange and Fruit Punch. I wouldn't recommend it. I've also heard that the new Blue Raspberry is pretty nasty, but I cannot comment on it.

Syntrax makes some of the greatest tasting whey protein available today. Their protein is a little expensive but well worth it. This review is about the Nectar Naturals whey protein product line from Syntrax. This stuff is 100% natural and offers some of the highest quality whey protein isolate ever developed.

I contacted a Syntrax rep on the bodybuilding.com forums, username si03, and told him that I wanted to try the Nectars Naturals, but didn't want to spend $30 per flavor to do so. He was kind enough to send me 2 servings of each to try out. I was leery of fruit flavored proteins since the Optimum Natural Strawberry was so bad. I am glad that I got these samples though! Nectar is some amazing stuff.

Sucralose is one of the most common artificial sweeteners that vendors use, and though it tastes okay, I have yet to see any long term studies on its health impacts. As such, I wanted to try a 100% natural protein. Syntrax got my attention, because the reviews of the other Nectar products have been so good, because they are the only natural WPI with low cholesterol per serving, and because it contains no carbs.

Nectar Naturals have no artificial ingredients and are sweetened with Stevia. Furthermore, they are a very high quality WPI (from reading the label of the jug it looks to be a cold filtered protein) that's not denatured. The amino, vitamin, and mineral profile is also excellent.

Tealicious was good, but I didn’t like it nearly as much as Natural Peach. My bias is that I am a big time tea drinker and insist on fresh brewed tea. I don’t like bottled teas or instant teas. Tealicious, while great for a premade tea, simply wasn't my bag. I gave the second sample to my brother and he loved it. If you like bottled tea or instant tea, then you will definitely like Tealicious.

Natural Peach is some awesome stuff! It's not like drinking a protein shake, but rather like sipping on a sweet and sour peach flavored candy. I don't feel like it's good for me because it's so easy to sip down, but it is! It mixes easily and still tastes great in water. I like it so much that I bought 5 jugs of it. Obviously, I recommend the Natural Peach flavor to everyone.

In both cases, the powder is very strongly flavored and you might need to add a little more water to it than with other powders. 10 oz. per scoop works well for me. 8 oz. seemed too strong, and 12 oz. was too weak.

This is a pretty unique product and one that is well worth the cost if you want something 100% natural that tastes great with:

Mixability: 6/10 - When I opened the container of NO Shotgun, it appeared to be a very fine powder that would mix really easily. Nope! It didn't clump too much, but it still clumped. It was difficult to get completely dissolved. My solution was to leave it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. It works. Trust me, you want this to dissolve, so you can chug it down quickly. Shotgun the NO Shotgun!

Taste: 6/10 - It doesn't taste very good. It's not R4W (Ready 4 War) bad, but it's bad in comparison to the candy like substances that pass themselves off as supplements today. My advice -- mix it in a little water as possible and shoot it down. Follow with a 16 oz. glass of water. Mixing it with orange juice or any other acidic beverage will probably mask the taste also.

Effectiveness: 9/10 - This is where NO shotgun shines! You can feel it about 15 minutes after taking it. The container says take it 40 minutes before workout, but I feel it the most after 30 minutes. You'll be able to figure out the best time to take it once you take it for the first time. I take it 15 minutes before I go to the gym. Then hit the treadmill for 15 minutes, and I am amped up and ready to go. In my opinion, NO shotgun is better utilized for higher reps, rather than lower reps. The first time that I tried it I was training heavy with 4-6 reps, and while NO Shotgun definitely helped my workout, I really noticed its effects when I trained with higher reps. For the last two days, I trained in the higher rep range, and my pumps were so full that I had to stretch out a couple of times, because I could barely move my arms. Also, NO Shotgun really helps you get mentally focused in the gym and seems to improve endurance. My workouts flew by and I just felt like I was killing the weights.

I am very happy with NO SHOTGUN, and I feel that it is well worth the money. My workouts have improved while taking it. What more can you ask for in a supplement? Personally, I am not really concerned about pumps, but if someone is looking for a product to give them pumps this is the best product I have used bar none. I really enjoy NO Shotgun.

I think that I am addicted to Stimulant X. 2:45AM. Went to bed at 5AM this morning. Got up at 9:30AM. Sometimes I wish it didn't last so long. That was the nice thing about Amp by Ergopharm; you get a beautiful spike of energy for a few hours. This stuff doesn't quit. My girlfriend is getting pissed off too (see StimX Update)! I was addicted to Amp before. Now I'm addicted to Stimulant X. Two best energy supplements ever! I should stack them. I don't have any Amp left though. They better stay on the market. FDA = bad. Don't forget to use up those coupons.

UPDATE! I blogged a review on Anabolic Xtreme Stimulant X a few weeks ago, but I had to give an update. I had my workout scheduled for around 7:30PM one day last week. I was feeling really drained, so I popped a Stimulant X around 6:30PM. This was a huge mistake! I couldn't sleep. I take that back. I got about 3 hours of sleep. That sucked. Make sure you take these things first thing in the morning. If you are looking for a hit of energy at night, look somewhere else! Another HUGE (and not huge at the same time) negative that I cried about noticed is erection problems. I couldn't get it up if Jessica Alba my girlfriend was all over my shit. I was flipping out. I thought that it was me. I did some research, and I was relieved (obviously not that way) to find others that are having the same problem with Stimulant X. I love the energy from this stuff, but now I am questioning whether or not it is worth it. Mannnnnn... If anyone has found a workaround please leave a comment.

When I first saw the advertisements for this supplement I said to myself, "You have to be kidding me!" I am always skeptical of advertising, especially when it comes from a supplement company. Once I began to research GAKIC a little more I did find that there was substance behind the claims. The famous immediate 10.5% increase claims were not based on MuscleTech hype but rather actual published research studies (Buford 2004 & Stevens BR 2000). I personally feel they should have also included the proven fact that this formula also improves resistance to fatigue by an average of 21% (Buford 2004 ).

The reason I mentioned the improved resistance to fatigue is because this is what I most notably experienced throughout my six week review. I was able to push out more reps and noticed huge improvements in my leg workouts with respect to more marginal improvements in other muscle groups, but improvements nonetheless. It took a lot more effort to fully fatigue my legs and sometimes I actually had to stop my workouts in fear of overtraining.

Post workout cardio sessions improved dramitically as well. The typical lactic acid burn almost never interfered with my performance and often I would only experience shortness of breath because I was pushing myself so hard.

To me this was most impressive because so many workout energizers rely on caffeine or caffeine derivatives. I feel a lot of people might have been disappointed with GAKIC samples because they expected a stimulant like feeling which is often misleading. I personally prefer not to take caffeine pre workout because it actually increases cortisol levels more than if not taken (Lovallo WR 2006). Cortisol has shown to have a catabolic effect so I prefer not promote it's release during my workout if controllable (Crewther B 2006). Also, consistent use of caffeine based products will cause the stimulatory effects to diminish over time as your central nervous system becomes accustomed to their presence. I'm not saying I never use them, I just don't rely on them for motivation. That should come from your heart and not a bottle.

What also troubles me is that some immediately say that GAKIC is "garbage" and creatine is "better." To me, this is comparing apples and oranges. During repeated bouts of supramaximal exercise such as weight lifting, creatine has shown to increase total power output (Okudan 2006). This means you are able to exert more energy within a certain time frame such as multiple sets of barbell bench presses during your workout. You can bench more total weight because the amount of force you are able to exert is greater.

GAKIC on the other hand helps decrease the drop in mean power output during repeated bouts of supramaximal exercise (Buford 2004). We will use the same example of barbell bench presses that we used for creatine. When benching GAKIC will not help necessarily help you exert more force, but will help maintain a more consistent applied force. This means that if you normally start dropping reps on you last few sets, GAKIC could potentially assist in pushing out those few extra reps, because it is indeed an anearobic fatigue toxin reducer (Stevens BR 2000).

Most notably I have read many people comparing this to nitric oxide supplements and saying they didn't get a great pump from GAKIC. Frankly, most of the claims of NO2 supplements are merely theory and you are experiencing only an effect. Personally, I get pumped up every workout without using NO2 supplements because my diet is solid. While I do feel they may serve more of a psychological advantage if anything, I would much rather use a product that actually improves the performance of muscles rather than a product that makes me feel as if I did. There is a huge difference and for anyone wishing to compete in the future you will realize this as well.

Cost: 7/10 - GAKIC is expensive without a doubt. However, when compared to other formulations utilizing the same formula it is on par with them. It really comes down to whether or not nutritional based performance enhancement is worth it for you. For me, I am training for a competition so utilizing a formula like this is certainly worth it. Despite this being a sponsored review, I will be buying GAKIC in the future.

Effectiveness: 9/10 - I found the GAKIC pills to be extremely effective when taken properly. The directions in my opinion are a little flawed because I found the supplement to be most effect when taken 90 minutes before my training sessions as opposed to 45 minutes. I often took them before my preworkout meal with a lot of water to ensure they were digested properly. Once I was able to tailor the supplement to my individual nutrition plan I found it to be extremely effective. My performance was improved in every muscle group, especially my legs. Hardcore workouts became easier plain and simple.

Now at first I was skeptical that there would ever be a legal, over the counter supplement that could improve your appetite and help you eat more that was safe and actually worked but I have to give CL props on this one because they did it.

Here are the main things I noticed with Black Hole:

1) I was able to eat more at one sitting without feeling stuffed or full. Most of the other users have reported this effect as well and it seems to be the most noticeable of the effects. There were sometimes I felt like I was never going to get full no matter how much I ate. Definitely helpful to get those last few bites down that people struggle with when bulking. Black Hole never really seemed to lose its effectiveness either. I thought it was losing effectiveness there after about 10 days but then took a day off from it and when I took it the next day it worked fine. Also want to note that the effects seemed to last a good three hours most of the time for me.

2) Not only could I eat more at one sitting but I actually got hungry again within 25-30 minutes after eating huge amounts of food. Normally without Black Hole I would eat a meal and be stuffed and have to wait at least 2 hours before even thinking about trying to down another meal. With Black Hole it was no problem.

3) For about the first 10-14 days I got a calm and relaxed feeling after taking the Black Hole. After that I hardly noticed it anymore but it nice while it lasted. After reading the other reviews only a very few experienced this. Plz don't buy Black Hole expecting to get a huge "high" because you will be wasting your money and you will be disappointed. The euphoric feeling you get, if any, is just an added bonus.

4) NO side effects

I definitely give Black Hole the thumbs up. Good job with this one CL.

My initial impressions after taking the first pill was that I could really feel this stuff at only 1 pill. I definitely noticed an increased heart rate and steady energy throughout the day. I would find myself bouncing my leg up and down as I was on the computer.

As I gradually upped the dose I was still loving the effects of this product. However, a problem arose during my workouts. I was getting very bad headaches during my workout and they would last into the night and I was forced to take some Advil a few days in a row. I decided to take a few days off, but when i returned to the gym the first set was like BAM, the headaches were back. I encountered this problem before when I pushed myself too hard on Squats, but a few days off and I’m good as new. I think HH may have elevated my blood pressure possibly. It seemed like every time I worked out the headaches would come out of nowhere. It was very weird. I lasted about 12 days on this product and was forced to stop b/c of the headaches.

I concluded that the headaches were from the Hydroxycut. All in all, I think Hydroxycut Hardcore is a good product, but proceed with caution as this is a strong thermogenic and there are definitely possible side effects. I may hop back on it in a week and start at 1 pill 2xday and go up to 2pills 2x day, but I think 3pills is too strong for me.

Well, I finally finished my Cherry Blast and am onto the Blueberry Madness. Today was the first day I tried it and I was very impressed.

Taste: The taste is exactly like blueberries. I drank 3/4 of it and started to get sick of it though. I used 2 servings worth with oats. The stuff does taste good though. I would rate the stuff 8 out of 10.

Consistency: The stuff mixed very well and I had NO clumps at all. Within one shake my clear drink turned a dark purple. I will say however, I do believe that if you get this stuff on your clothes, it will stain it for good. But I definitely have no complaints for this category. I rate it 10 out of 10.

Overall: Overall I would definitely recommend this stuff to anyone looking for a good isolate. It tastes and smells amazing and goes down smooth. I do believe I like the Cherry flavor better though between the two. I would still rate this product overall a 9 out of 10.

My endurance, in the weight room, doing stairs, hills, with the weight vest or without it, is outta control on this stuff. I’ve made a concerted effort to take it in isolation from the other products in an effort to assess its benefit. Stuff is sick. I highly recommend training by the clock, as I have accidentally kept on running for like 90 minutes. No joke. With regards to the tingly sensation, it felt more like an itch. It will be a staple in my arsenal. Alone it is bomb. Add between 90 and 300mg of caffeine anhydrous. I felt like doing a drive-bye! Much respect to CL for such and effective product!

A few months ago I decided to use CL's very own green bulge after hearing so many ecstatic reviews on it. I had a poor diet but still walked away with 5 solid pounds and +10-15 lbs on all my lifts. I was quite pleased. The only downer of this product was taking 5 of the most disgusting tasting pills ever.

I took a break off of creatine for a few months then stumbled back onto the forums in search of a new one. GB was out like last weeks fad and I started hearing great things on XCEED. I decided to try it. I was pleased of the taste compared to the capsules of GB, but was not pleased with the results. I gained 2 lbs, water weight pretty much with very minimal strength gains. Only lift that went up was bench. I feel as if I wasted my 40 something dollars.

AMP is honestly the greatest supplement ever created. I originally bought it to use while I was on my cutting cycle. I was absolutely shocked at the results EVERY TIME I took it.

The energy that you get from AMP is nuts! I could run on a treadmill all day long, and we all know how boring that can be. You will have a surge of energy, like no other that you have experienced, that will last for hours. I've never taken speed, but that's what I would compare it to! :)

The focus is another great attribute of AMP. I'm not sure if I'm borderline ADD or what, but I am terrible when it comes to paying attention to things. That last statement is no longer true if I've taken AMP.

The last thing that I am going to RAVE about is the great mood and well being that you will have. I'm in a bad mood quite frequently. I also usually have a negative outlook on EVERYTHING. It sucks I know, but I'm working on it. I am so happy if I've taken AMP. I have a huge smile on my face. Every thought that I have is positive.

I have even given 2 capsules to a 50 year college professor because she was feeling tired and down. The next day she said "Holy sh*t!". Needless to say, she asked where she could buy it and immediately placed an order.

OK, after my first bad experience with this stuff (do NOT take too many) I figured this stuff was strong. If it was as strong as I expected, it would definitely worth the money. After trying to get samples freom Anabolic Xtreme, unsuccessfully, I managed to find a buddy who had a couple he sent me. I was right, ONE pill does the trick.

Still being gunshy on this stuff, I have not taken it preworkout, but postworkout with my shake at 6:30 am. Usually my morning thermogenics wear off by 9am, leaving me just whooped. This stuff keeps me going all the way through lunch.

I can say it's definitely worth a try, but for your own sake START OFF WITH ONLY ONE CAPSULE!!!

I only use it on workout days. Two scoops plus I add 5g of CM. It gives me great energy and focus without any jitters. I train early in the morning, so the energy is key. However, I have also experienced great strength gains and the pumps are nice, too.

It mixes easily with water in a shaker bottle or water bottle. The taste is better than NO or Superpump imo. I have had no stomach problems and the effects don't last much longer than an hour or so after training. No crash, either.

The reason I would recommend this product over the other two (mentioned earlier) is the addition of BCAA's in the formula. I drink one scoop about 15 minutes before I hit the gym and it is already kicked in. The second scoop I drink throughout the first half of training (then switch to water) because of the BCAA's.

Overall, I would highly recommend that you give this product a try, especially if you currently use No-Explode.

Taste: Proclaims to be lemon-lime, but it is pretty bland, not bad, but relatively tasteless 6/10Mixability: With just a couple shakes, all the powder was gone in 12 oz. of water. It also mixes up into a mutant green color, which was very cool 9/10

Energy/Endurance: I got a little bit of energy boost, but I think this came from the 200mg of caffeine. As for focus and reduced lactic acid, I really did not notice anything exceptional. Both these factors were pretty normal for my training 6/10

Value: 25 servings for $33, not too bad for a preworkout energizer, however, the product purports to be more than an energizer, which I think is where it lacks 7/10

Overall: other than a little bit of energy in a cool color, this product is nothing special 7/10

I got a couple free samples of this protein the other day, so I figured I'd give it a go and write up a review.

Mixability: 8.5 out of 10 - This stuff mixed up very well, but there seemed to be a lot of foaming. Maybe Syntrax did this on purpose to imitate an actual cappuccino drink, but I'd rather not have the foam personally. I used a basic shaker, 10 seconds of shaking, no clumps... good texture.

Taste: 9 out of 10 - I'm not a huge coffee fan, but this was really tasty!! Once in a while I'll hit a coffeeshop for a drink, this tasted very similar (except cold). Does syntrax have any plans to make a caffeinated version? That would be a great way to start my mornings!

Cost: 8 out of 10 - At $28.49 for 2.2 lbs, it's more expensive than most other proteins, but looking at the ingredients and the taste, it could be a great value. I'd suspect a true coffee lover would find more value in this flavour than me, but I'd still be interested in buying a tub.

Overall: I wish I had more samples!! This tastes so good! I'm not sure how much this costs in Canada, but I'll definitely be searching for it next time I shop for protein.